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Narcos |OT| There's no business like blow business - Netflix - *spoilers for S1*

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Dyno

Member
Very entertaining and some great performances. I like that they slip into documentary style. Pablo was totally a supervillain. He had Columbia in a grip of terror.
 

Dalek

Member
We are 4 episodes in and I'm really loving it. I get the complaints about the narration, but as someone who isn't familiar with the backstory at all, I appreciate the info dump.
 

Salsa

Member
started watching this just now and the dude playing Pablo Escobar is the one who speaks spanish the worst

y netflix

this will bother me all series
 

Salsa

Member
I don't speak Spanish, so it sounds great to me!

its just jarring cause most other cast seems great

guy playing Cucaracha is very clearly Chilean and speaks just like a guy from there, which is really weird to see on a show like this

so, just disappointed that the guy playing Pablo sounds nothing like Pablo or any Colombian at that
 

harSon

Banned
I kind of wish they made season one 12 episodes, and just finished off Escobar's story - and then moved onto something else next season.
 

GK86

Homeland Security Fail
Episode 6: "Give him lead." What a badass moment. Does anyone know if that is how it actually went down (the police giving the go ahead to kill Gacha)?

Also, it is insane that Pablo would blow up an airliner to kill a target.
 

Salsa

Member
his accent slips to an american-trying-to-speak-spanish accent every now and then which doesn't make much sense since he's in portuguese films if I recall correctly haha

he's brazilian. I actually very briefly met the dude once at a festival. he did not speak spanish at all then so im guessing he learned for this

it shows

he's great otherwise tho
 

mantidor

Member
Episode 6: "Give him lead." What a badass moment. Does anyone know if that is how it actually went down (the police giving the go ahead to kill Gacha)?

I remember when the news reported about Gacha they just showed a line of bodies, reading about it now it actually went down like in the show. The police would never admit to kill instead of capture given the opportunity, so official reports say he was running away when he got hit. Some people speculate he killed himself when he got cornered, but that is more of an urban legend.
 

Tugatrix

Member
he's brazilian. I actually very briefly met the dude once at a festival. he did not speak spanish at all then so im guessing he learned for this

it shows

he's great otherwise tho

is not that hard the languages are similar, the accents are the tricky part
 

Salsa

Member
is not that hard the languages are similar, the accents are the tricky part

that tends to be a misconception

learning spanish for someone who speaks portuguese is really hard, and much, much harder than the other way around

has more to do with how phrases are formed and all
 

mantidor

Member
that tends to be a misconception

learning spanish for someone who speaks portuguese is really hard, and much, much harder than the other way around

has more to do with how phrases are formed and all

From personal experience both ways are equally hard. Funny enough the languages are intelligible between each other, so most of the times you don't even need translation, but to speak properly both is an incredibly difficult task.
 
From personal experience both ways are equally hard. Funny enough the languages are intelligible between each other, so most of the times you don't even need translation, but to speak properly both is an incredibly difficult task.

Yeah I grew up in Miami and had Brasilian bosses at one job. The phonetic difference between Spanish and Portuguese is really stark, even if the words themselves aren't dissimilar.
 

Salsa

Member
From personal experience both ways are equally hard. Funny enough the languages are intelligible between each other, so most of the times you don't even need translation, but to speak properly both is an incredibly difficult task.

idk. im a native spanish speaker and my sister is from Brasil. just 2 weeks ago I was having dinner with a friend of hers and we ended up speaking english cause it was easier

you can get basic ideas through conversation with all its clues and all sure, but to proper understand it normal-paced portuguese (ie fast for natives) is straight up gibberish to my ears

its odd. been told the harder from port-to-span by many brasilians tho
 

IceCold

Member
Learning Portuguese as a Spanish speaker is harder than the reverse. Especially if we are talking about European Portuguese. Why? Because Portuguese is way more complex phonetically than Spanish.
 

GK86

Homeland Security Fail
I remember when the news reported about Gacha they just showed a line of bodies, reading about it now it actually went down like in the show. The police would never admit to kill instead of capture given the opportunity, so official reports say he was running away when he got hit. Some people speculate he killed himself when he got cornered, but that is more of an urban legend.

Yeah, that is what I figured they wrote on reports.

This all must have been surreal growing up with. I told my mom that I'm watching the show and that it got to the point where Pablo blew up the plane, and she told me it was a sad day and so many innocent people died.
 

mantidor

Member
Yeah, that is what I figured they wrote on reports.

This all must have been surreal growing up with. I told my mom that I'm watching the show and that it got to the point where Pablo blew up the plane, and she told me it was a sad day and so many innocent people died.

I friend of my brother never met his father because he was on the plane and her mother was just pregnant with him. I do remember the bombings quite clearly, things like the siege was much earlier and I was too young to remember, but the bombings happened later and I do remember how we couldn't even go to the movies because you just didn't know when or where a bomb would go off. I remember some of the kidnappings as well, and of course the manhunt after Escobar escaped and the relief when he died.

The show gives hindsight but at the time all those events were not clear in the open, however most people knew or assume Escobar was behind it, it was the kind of secret everyone knew of. There were other actors in the violence besides the cartels like guerrillas and the paramilitaries, back then barely starting, but it was easy to know who was behind what.
 

Salsa

Member
Learning Portuguese as a Spanish speaker is harder than the reverse. Especially if we are talking about European Portuguese. Why? Because Portuguese is way more complex phonetically than Spanish.

im only saying what ive been told by many brazilians throughout life

maybe it has something to do with Brazils portuguese to Uruguays-rio de la plata spanish rather than something like Portugal and Spain. we speak completely different
 

The Hermit

Member
idk. im a native spanish speaker and my sister is from Brasil. just 2 weeks ago I was having dinner with a friend of hers and we ended up speaking english cause it was easier

you can get basic ideas through conversation with all its clues and all sure, but to proper understand it normal-paced portuguese (ie fast for natives) is straight up gibberish to my ears

its odd. been told the harder from port-to-span by many brasilians tho

My parents are Argentinian and I was born in Brazil. We all live in sao Paulo since then.
Here's the thing: Brazilians understand spanish well enough to the point that most people from any country that speaks Spanish won't have a hard time speaking in "portunhol" . I know people who live here over 30 years and still have a very strong accent.

When a Brazilian tries to speak Spanish he thinks its easy ( he can understand easily) but its not and it leads to a scenario where he speaks whatever yet in his mind is clear as water and the interlocutor have no idea what's he's talking about.
 

GK86

Homeland Security Fail
Just finished up the season. Wow, I really loved this show.

I have never seen any show (or really, didn't know anything about Pablo's life) about Pablo before, so this was all new to me. I loved the use of actual news footage and photographs. Early on, I constantly found myself pausing the show to read up on the events that happened. Towards the end, I could definitely see why they included the real footage, because some of those events were just insane. They were right, people, myself included, would not have believe that Pablo was capable of doing such things.

The show is well-directed and well-acted. The cinematography especially was amazing. Beautiful shots of Colombia. I think the only character that wasn't interesting was Steve. Pablo's, Gustavo's and Gacha's characters were my favorite. I liked how Juan Pablo Raba and Luis Guzman portrayed their characters. They did a great job.

I didn't have issue with Wagner's accent. There were times when it would slip, but overall, I thought it was fine.

My main issue with the show is they seemed to have crammed a lot of content/events in the short season. But, I might be nitpicking with this one.

This might have become my favorite Netflix Original. I can't wait to see more.
 

Curufinwe

Member
Just finished up the season. Wow, I really loved this show.

I have never seen any show (or really, didn't know anything about Pablo's life) about Pablo before, so this was all new to me. I loved the use of actual news footage and photographs. Early on, I constantly found myself pausing the show to read up on the events that happened. Towards the end, I could definitely see why they included the real footage, because some of those events were just insane. They were right, people, myself included, would not have believe that Pablo was capable of doing such things.

It kept making me think of when awful things happen on GoT and critics complain the the writers of the book/show put them in just for "shock value". Violent acts done in real life by people clinging to power are often more shocking than fiction.
 

trembli0s

Member
Great show. My GF and I both speak Spanish (she's from El Salvador and my mom is from Spain) and we were definitely a little off put at the outset by Moura's accent.

The only other person whose accent we couldn't quite put a finger one was the guy who plays Carrillo.

We also watched the 30 for 30, of the Two Escobars. Man, what a totally surreal situation all around. Like Pablo Escobar is clearly the worst dude ever, and yet he manages to create some amount of good through his actions. Just completely blows your mind about how completely evil people are still human.
 

Salsa

Member
I almost wish this was an anthology show true detective style that just ended Escobar on season 1 and went on to tell the story of different worldwide Narcos by other creative teams going forward

guess no one's as iconic as Pablo tho so it wouldnt make much sense
 

Tugatrix

Member
that tends to be a misconception

learning spanish for someone who speaks portuguese is really hard, and much, much harder than the other way around

has more to do with how phrases are formed and all

Not for a European Portuguese like me, due to our accent being very phonetically rich when compared with the Brazilian accent, we can master languages much more easily, a small inheritance from our ancestors. I my case I learned Spanish watching their tv.
 

bidguy

Banned
I almost wish this was an anthology show true detective style that just ended Escobar on season 1 and went on to tell the story of different worldwide Narcos by other creative teams going forward

guess no one's as iconic as Pablo tho so it wouldnt make much sense

theres frank lucas, rick ross, griselda blanco maybe even al capone who could fit into a show like this allthough frank lucas already got a big hollywood movie
 

Salsa

Member
theres frank lucas, rick ross, griselda blanco maybe even al capone who could fit into a show like this allthough frank lucas already got a big hollywood movie

well, Escobar got like 4 movies in the last 2 years and it didnt stop this
 
This was awesome. I loved it.

The ending was a little weak imo, but overall it was very entertaining and the actors did a great job.

I loved how they used real life footage. It was awesome.
 

GK86

Homeland Security Fail
I almost wish this was an anthology show true detective style that just ended Escobar on season 1 and went on to tell the story of different worldwide Narcos by other creative teams going forward

guess no one's as iconic as Pablo tho so it wouldnt make much sense

I don't think it would have worked ending it on season one. They already crammed so much into it. I'm fine with them taking two seasons on him. Then changing it to another one. Or maybe, tell the story from the POV of the Cali Cartel.
 

Salsa

Member
I don't think it would have worked ending it on season one. They already crammed so much into it. I'm fine with them taking two seasons on him. Then changing it to another one. Or maybe, tell the story from the POV of the Cali Cartel.

I think im fine with another season and then just ending the show if that's the case

knowing Netflix does 2 seasons on contracts up front im sure that's the plan



btw im pretty bummed that im not in hijinks with Colombia or Venezuela anymore like last year due to some relationships drying off (and a personal one just ending) cause I know people working on this on title designs / music, etc

could probably get a job or at least visit and get involved in some way. it'd be cool :(

I want the netflix inside experience™
 
Fucking love this show. Very well directed and I'm glad they are mostly sticking to real life events. It's almost like a documentary. The intro is so good, everything is so good. Gdamn give me more and inject it into my veins plz.

As far as the accent goes:
Escobar's accent is pretty bad but his voice (raspy) actually makes him sound more intimidating. If you listen to an interview of the real Escobar, his voice is soft not intimidating at all.
 

Salsa

Member
Made this up today, gonna put in on a few shirts and give away...


good luck encountering a colombian wearing a shirt celebrating the guy who bombed an avianca plane full of passengers :X


I actually wondered what would happen if this show got popular to these shirt-levels considering people might just go "oh yeah criminals drugs! breaking bad in colombia!"

this shit happened just a little while ago and I met people directly affected by it
 

Epix

Member
good luck encountering a colombian wearing a shirt celebrating the guy who bombed an avianca plane full of passengers :X


I actually wondered what would happen if this show got popular to these shirt-levels considering people might just go "oh yeah criminals drugs! breaking bad in colombia!"

this shit happened just a little while ago and I met people directly affected by it

Damn never thought of it that way. Just thought it was a cool part of the show. I guess since these are real life events and people its probably a little too insensitive.
 

mantidor

Member
I've already seen people talking about tshirts elsewhere too and it turned my stomach, I knew this would happen, even with the more or less "victims first " approach of the series, and honestly the only reason I watched it is to have enough arguments when I meet people in real life with this kind of situations.

I live in Brazil now and even at work everyone is fascinated with Escobar and it seems is the only thing they can talk about with me, even after I tell them what a nightmare the whole thing was, but I guess it can't be helped, the same thing happened with breaking bad and Walter White and those are fictional. Well, at least those were fictional.
 

Salsa

Member
I do think the show doesnt go into that "the bad guy is the coolest!" thing that breaking bad could steer into sometimes

but I guess some people can fall into that too? show really doesnt encourage anyone to root for Pablo.. you'd have to be a bit fucked up. but peeps are weird. show does a pretty good job at showing murphy and peña like the (somewhat corrupt) badasses they were
 

mantidor

Member
I do think the show doesnt go into that "the bad guy is the coolest!" thing that breaking bad could steer into sometimes

but I guess some people can fall into that too? show really doesnt encourage anyone to root for Pablo.. you'd have to be a bit fucked up. but peeps are weird. show does a pretty good job at showing murphy and peña like the (somewhat corrupt) badasses they were

I do like how the DEA was portrayed, because it was so easy to fall into the american savior trope, no one in Colombia is really fond of the DEA either, and even the police and the army for that matter, it was a war without good guys.
 

Ayumi

Member
Finally finished so I can click this thread. Been subscribed for a week but I didn't finish watching until today.

Great show. Excited for more, assuming that will happen (I didn't bother to look it up yet).

It's hard to root for Pablo, but within his own circle, I'd easily do so. I don't really am on team-cop, I just think it's hard to want Pablo to get what he wants. His character is great (entertainment, not justice) and I like watching his crazy ass becoming worse each episode. Because I remember thinking around episode 4 or so that I hope things will become more messed up.
he's brazilian. I actually very briefly met the dude once at a festival. he did not speak spanish at all then so im guessing he learned for this

it shows

he's great otherwise tho
Probably not as awful as Gus on Breaking Bad, right?
I heard that was awful.
 

IISANDERII

Member
Holy shit that 1st episode. I would've thought all that stuff would be stretched out over the season or even multiple seasons. Interested to see how things go from here
 
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